On a rain-drenched Friday night in Los Angeles, guests arrived for Zimmermann in resort-ready ensembles that would’ve suited the city’s unexpected November heatwave — had the skies not turned into a sweeping downpour.
Yet the weather did nothing to dull the mood at Chateau Marmont, as Dakota Fanning, Rita Ora, Jurnee Smollett, Halle Bailey, Zoey Deutch and Emma Roberts were ushered along a winding outdoor path under large umbrellas toward a neon-lit poolside photo-op: a glowing Zimmermann sign, its heart pierced by an arrow.
Inside, warm and cocooned from the storm — the rain tapping against the sunroom glass — the bungalow buzzed with a sweep of cruise 2026 ensembles, martinis and margaritas in hand. Ora stood out in a dress that amplified the spirit of the collection, “Twisted Romance,” first shown in Mykonos and rooted in pirate lore and the flamboyance of the New Romantics. Her look, a white design with cutouts that showcased her abs, featured rope ties and cinched pleating, while Fanning embodied the collection’s softer side in a fluid silk dress with billowing sleeves and faint cartographic prints.
“It’s cooking behind me,” Nicky Zimmermann said to laughs at dinner, seated just inches from the blazing fireplace.
The dining area, raised a step above the sunroom, unfolded into a striking tablescape: two long tables dressed in soft ivory linens. Tall taper candles flickered between arrangements of deep burgundy flowers, the blooms cascading in trails that spilled over the table’s edge and down to the floor.
Joining Ora, Fanning and others around the tables were actors Isabela Merced, Maria Bakalova, Bella Heathcote, Beatrice Grannò, Larsen Thompson and Delaney Rowe, along with models Abby Champion and Sanne Vloet, as well as stylists Brit Smith, Jessica Paster, Alexandra Mandelkorn and Annabelle Harron.
“Tonight, for us, it’s about us reconnecting with you guys,” Zimmermann went on.
It was eight years since the brand last hosted an event in L.A., a stretch marked by a growing back-and-forth between its Paris and Sydney ateliers, which now work in tandem across collections.
“We don’t go through L.A. as much as we used to,” she said.
Zimmermann, the brand’s creative director, spoke beside her sister, Simone, its chief operating officer. The two have built the company together for 34 years, joined in leadership by Zimmermann’s husband, Chris Olliver — also in attendance — who serves as chief executive officer.
Part of the Zimmermann story starts in L.A.
“Our very first store was on Robertson Boulevard in L.A.…It was a bit of an accident, because we wanted to open in New York, our first store, but it didn’t come around as easy as L.A.,” she continued.
Robertson, then one of the city’s buzziest stretches, became an unexpectedly pivotal launching point for the business — which now calls Melrose Place home. “It was a great way to start.”
From there, dinner carried on in a swirl of chatter, before guests were beckoned to the after party for dessert.
Stepping back out into the rain, across the main entrance and up the elevator, the crowd entered penthouse 64, where a spread of chocolate bark, madeleines and canelés awaited. Some slipped onto deep couches while others found the dance floor as the music pulsed and drinks continued to flow.
